Reader Discussion: How Important Is The ESRB Rating?

Dark Souls II, a historically 'M' rated series (admittedly, based on only two games) will be 'T' rated. How important is the rating to your appreciation of a game?

Are you a young gamer with an appropriately limited library of available games to play based on your age? Or are you an older gamer who sees anything below an 'M' as a waste of your time? Or does a game's rating have nothing to do with its quality whatsoever.

The image above is from an Xbox game called Raze's Hell that was unapologetically 'M' rated, but its world and enemies were sweet, cute, and perhaps a little too obviously inspired by Teletubbies. It was an assault on cutesy games for children made for gamers who liked their games violent. We gave it a six out of ten when we reviewed it, so it wasn't great, but it seems like an appropriate game to reference as part of this discussion.